The tech world is ever-changing, with new programming languages emerging to meet modern challenges while older ones slowly fade into obscurity. Many programming languages that once revolutionized software development have now lost their relevance, overtaken by more efficient and versatile languages. Whether due to evolving industry needs, the rise of new technologies, or simply a lack of modern features, these once-prominent languages are now largely forgotten or confined to maintaining legacy systems.

In this article, we take a closer look at the top 10 dying programming languages, examining their history, rise to prominence, and the reasons for their decline.

1. COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language)

History and Use:

COBOL, developed in 1959, was one of the earliest high-level programming languages, primarily designed for business and financial applications. It became the backbone of many governmental and enterprise systems, powering payroll, customer databases, and banking transactions.

COBOL’s strength lay in its ease of readability, making it accessible to non-technical business users. For decades, COBOL was the dominant language for transaction processing in industries like finance, healthcare, and government, where data processing and record keeping were critical.

Why It’s Dying:

• Outdated syntax and inefficiency: COBOL’s syntax is seen as verbose and cumbersome compared to modern languages, which prioritize flexibility and efficiency.

• Skills gap: COBOL’s declining use has led to fewer developers learning the language. As COBOL programmers retire, the workforce skilled in maintaining COBOL systems has significantly shrunk.

• Legacy entrapment: COBOL remains in use in certain legacy systems, but modern companies see it as more cost-effective to migrate to newer platforms rather than continue investing in COBOL maintenance.

  
  

Despite these challenges, COBOL is still essential for legacy systems in banking and government sectors, but its relevance continues to wane.

2. FORTRAN (Formula Translation)

History and Use:

Created in 1957, FORTRAN was the first high-level programming language specifically designed for scientific and engineering calculations. Its efficient handling of mathematical computations made it a favorite among researchers, engineers, and scientists. It was instrumental in tasks like weather prediction, physics simulations, and structural analysis.

FORTRAN was revolutionary in its time, helping scientists solve complex problems that previously required manual calculations. It was used extensively in academia and industries that required heavy computational power.

Why It’s Dying:

• Niche focus: FORTRAN is heavily specialized for scientific computing, and modern languages like Python (with libraries like NumPy and SciPy) and MATLAB now handle these tasks more efficiently.

• Lack of modern features: FORTRAN has struggled to keep up with modern programming paradigms like object-oriented programming and multi-core processing.

• Shift to general-purpose languages: Scientific computing has increasingly moved toward more versatile languages like Python, which offer broader functionality and a larger ecosystem of libraries and tools.

  
  

Although FORTRAN remains in use for specific scientific tasks, particularly in legacy systems, its dominance has faded in favor of more modern, multipurpose languages.

3. Pascal

History and Use:

Pascal, developed in 1970 by Niklaus Wirth, was initially designed as a teaching tool to introduce structured programming. It became popular in academia, and for many years, universities used it to teach computer science students the principles of programming.

Pascal's influence extended beyond education. It was used for commercial software development, and perhaps its most famous application was in the early development of Apple’s Mac OS.

Why It’s Dying:

• Educational shift: Over time, educational institutions moved away from Pascal in favor of more versatile languages like Python and Java, which are more aligned with real-world programming applications.

• Limited commercial use: While Pascal was a solid educational tool, it never gained significant traction in the professional world. Its influence has diminished as other languages became more popular.

• Lack of adaptability: Pascal didn’t adapt well to modern programming needs, particularly with the rise of object-oriented programming, which diminished its relevance.

  
  

Pascal is now mostly a relic of computer science education and is no longer widely used in professional software development.

4. Perl

History and Use:

Perl, developed in 1987 by Larry Wall, was known as the “Swiss Army knife” of programming languages due to its versatility. It was widely adopted in the 1990s, especially for system administration tasks, web development (specifically CGI scripting), and text processing. Perl’s flexibility made it a powerful tool for quick automation tasks and handling complex data manipulation.

Why It’s Dying:

• Competition from modern languages: Perl has been largely supplanted by Python and Ruby, which offer similar capabilities with cleaner, more readable syntax.

• Reputation for complexity: Perl’s flexibility became its downfall as well. It developed a reputation for being difficult to read and maintain, earning the nickname “write once, read never.”

• Web development shift: The rise of frameworks like Ruby on Rails and Python's Django made Perl less relevant in web development, which was one of its major use cases.

  
  

While Perl still has a dedicated community, its usage has significantly declined, especially in favor of more modern, accessible languages.

5. Ada

History and Use:

Ada, developed in the late 1970s by the U.S. Department of Defense, was designed for safety-critical systems where failure was not an option. It became the go-to language for projects in aerospace, defense, and other mission-critical applications due to its emphasis on reliability, strong typing, and modularity.

Why It’s Dying:

• Niche application: Ada was never meant for general-purpose programming, and its use was largely limited to defense and aerospace. As a result, it never gained wide adoption outside of these industries.

• Rise of alternatives: As newer, more flexible languages like C++ and Python emerged, Ada was seen as too complex and cumbersome for general application development.

• Reduced defense dependency: Even in defense, Ada’s prominence has diminished as newer languages and technologies have taken over.

  
  

While Ada still survives in specific, safety-critical applications, it is far from the mainstream and has been largely replaced by more accessible languages in most industries.

6. Objective-C

History and Use:

Before Swift arrived, Objective-C was Apple’s programming language of choice for building apps for macOS and iOS. A superset of C, Objective-C added object-oriented features to the C programming language and was the foundation for developing Apple's operating systems and apps throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Why It’s Dying:

• Swift’s dominance: In 2014, Apple introduced Swift, a modern, fast, and easy-to-use language designed to replace Objective-C. Swift's cleaner syntax, improved safety, and performance quickly made it the preferred language for iOS and macOS development.

• Complex syntax: Objective-C's heavy use of brackets and verbose syntax made it more difficult for developers to write and maintain code compared to Swift’s simpler, more readable syntax.

• Legacy code only: Objective-C is still used in maintaining older applications, but new projects are almost exclusively developed in Swift.

  
  

Objective-C's decline has been rapid as developers have migrated en masse to Swift, leaving it primarily as a legacy language for maintaining older Apple applications.

7. ColdFusion

History and Use:

ColdFusion, developed in the mid-1990s by Allaire (later acquired by Adobe), was a rapid web application development platform. Its ease of use and speed made it a popular choice for building dynamic websites, and it gained traction during the early days of the internet.

Why It’s Dying:

• Rise of PHP and ASP.NET: ColdFusion faced stiff competition from PHP and ASP.NET, both of which offered more versatility, broader community support, and were free to use, while ColdFusion required expensive licensing.

• Shrinking community: ColdFusion's developer community has dwindled significantly over the years, making it harder to find support, resources, or new development tools.

• Costly licensing: ColdFusion’s proprietary nature and associated licensing fees have deterred new developers and companies, especially when free, open-source alternatives are readily available.

  
  

ColdFusion is still used by a niche group of developers, but its presence in the web development world is rapidly diminishing.

8. Delphi

History and Use:

Delphi, created by Borland in the mid-1990s, was a rapid application development (RAD) tool that used Object Pascal. Delphi was especially popular for creating Windows desktop applications due to its powerful visual development environment.

Why It’s Dying:

• Decline in desktop development: As web-based applications gained popularity, the demand for dedicated desktop development tools like Delphi decreased significantly.

• Lack of modernization: Delphi has struggled to keep up with modern development trends, such as mobile app development, cloud integration, and web-based applications.

• Limited appeal: Delphi's relevance has dwindled as modern languages and frameworks, like C# and Java, have taken over in desktop and enterprise development.

  
  

While Delphi has a small but dedicated user base, it is no longer a major player in the software development world.

9. Lisp

History and Use:

Lisp, developed in 1958, is one of the oldest programming languages. It gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and academia. Lisp’s unique structure, based on symbolic expression processing and recursion, made it revolutionary for its time.

Why It’s Dying:

• Complex syntax: Lisp’s syntax, particularly its heavy reliance on parentheses, makes it difficult for newcomers to learn and use compared to more intuitive languages like Python.

• Shift in AI research: Although Lisp was popular in early AI research, modern AI development has shifted toward languages like Python, which offer extensive libraries, community support, and ease of use.

• Niche usage: Lisp has been largely replaced by more modern languages, though it still has a small presence in specific functional programming communities.

  
  

While Lisp is still respected for its contributions to AI and functional programming, it has lost its mainstream relevance in favor of more modern languages.

10. BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code)

History and Use:

BASIC was developed in the 1960s as a simple language for beginners to learn programming. In the 1980s, it became immensely popular due to its inclusion on many early home computers, such as the Apple II and Commodore 64. It was designed to be easy to use, and many early computer users first learned to program in BASIC.

Why It’s Dying:

• Obsolescence: As programming needs became more complex, BASIC was no longer suitable for developing modern software. Its simplicity, once its strength, became a limitation as developers needed languages that could handle more intricate tasks.

• Educational shift: BASIC was widely used to teach programming, but educational institutions have since replaced it with more modern languages like Python, which is easier to learn and more relevant in today’s programming landscape.

• Limited application: BASIC is impractical for modern software development, as it lacks many of the features and capabilities required for today’s complex, scalable software projects.

  
  

Though BASIC has left a significant legacy in programming education, it is no longer relevant in today’s development environment.

Conclusion

The programming languages listed above once dominated the software development landscape, but as technology has evolved, they have become relics of a bygone era. Whether they were overtaken by more versatile languages or failed to adapt to modern computing needs, these languages now occupy a niche role or have all but vanished.

While their time in the spotlight may be over, these languages contributed significantly to the field of computer science and laid the foundation for the development of more modern programming tools. As new languages continue to emerge, the tech world will undoubtedly witness more shifts in the programming landscape, with new languages rising to prominence and old ones fading into history.